Wednesday, 15 October 2014

I read a material on The Benefits of Giving Away What Your Company Knows
by CV Harquail. Using Buffer as a case study, Harquail discussed how businesses can benefit from sharing what they know with others. According to her, generative businesses are "designing their business practices, their relationships, and their
business models so that the work they do to grow their own businesses
helps their stakeholders grow too."

When you view old methods in a new way, it helps your business to adjust to the changing circumstances.

Generative
organisations or businesses are simply those businesses that are able to create
or bring into being something new, or to give rise to new possibilities. For instance
new ideas, new processes etc. The create opportunities for others while they grow.

Below are the key features of a generative business as discussed by C.V. Harquail.

They design their work processes to power their own growth while
sharing what they know, creating opportunities for other businesses to
learn, experiment, or challenge themselves.

They build an ecosystem of mutually supportive relationships with
and between their stakeholders, so the group as a whole can benefit from
interactions across the network.

They create financial value as well as social value, which includes
non-financial positive outcomes such as purpose, meaning, community,
expression, and learning.

As good as this sounds, how small businesses will benefit from being generative is still not very clear especially when they have to deal with survival. In Nigeria for instance, small businesses are very secretive, and may not want to share any knowledge that will help other stakeholders especially competitors. How do you know what amount of information to give away is one question yet to be answered. In spite of that, this is a principle small businesses should imbibe as they grow. By helping others grow, you gain new ideas and achieve better results.

Something is “generative” when it’s able to originate or produce something, or to give rise to new possibilities.

Generative practices are important because they make new things possible. They have the capacity for ‘more’ built right in.
- See more at: http://authenticorganizations.com/harquail/2013/12/11/whats-a-generative-organization/#sthash.SbkIoejd.dpuf

Something is “generative” when it’s able to originate or produce something, or to give rise to new possibilities.

Generative practices are important because they make new things possible. They have the capacity for ‘more’ built right in.
- See more at: http://authenticorganizations.com/harquail/2013/12/11/whats-a-generative-organization/#sthash.SbkIoejd.dpuf

Social
networking sites (SNS) have proved to be a veritable tool for organisations and
advertising agencies to narrow their campaigns to the most relevant audience. Aside
from the personal feelings, it can be used to promote brands, products and
services. This platform creates more opportunities for brand engagement as well
as provides opportunity for advertisers to gather personal information of their
audience for use in future campaigns. . Research has shown that some
interactive elements in an SNS campaign can be used to elicit self-disclosure
from consumers.

Guda
van Noort of Amsterdam school of communication research and colleagues discussed
3 major components of interactive advertising campaigns.

1.Advertising:
This is used to generate traffic for the campaign, and it serves as the door
leading to the action page of SNS campaign. The come in form of banners or
advertorial on the brand’s website.

2.The
Campaign: When consumers log in into a social network site, they are presented
with an interactive campaign in a quiz or battle game format, some also come in
form of text or video of product. Here, the user is expected to perform an
action. If the user finds it interesting and enjoyable, there is a higher
chance that it will lead to the next component.

3.Viral
or Tell a Friend: This third component allows users to share the campaign with
friends. One of the unique features of a social media platform is the ability
to share content with those within their network.

Social
media campaigns are gradually taking over traditional methods of advertising,
and many corporations are taking advantage of it. Though it doesn’t always
guaranty success, but if properly done, the returns are great. Small businesses
must begin to take their social media platforms more seriously than before

Tuesday, 14 October 2014

In both developed and developing countries, entrepreneurship has
been advocated as a means of bridging the gap between the poor and the rich. It been the driving force for economic development especially in capitalist countries.
However, the rates of growth of entrepreneurship between developing and
developed nations have raised some concerns that seem to suggest that poverty
prevents people from starting a business. The implication of this is that poor
people who are predominant in developing nations lack the financial resources
to engage in entrepreneurial activities. Again, from studies done especially in Nigeria, most people believe that the reason they can't be entrepreneurs is because they lack the financial resources to do so.

For obvious reasons, this argument/believe is faulty. First, starting a
business or being entrepreneurial is more of an attitude than it is of financial resources.
Those who engage in entrepreneurial activities are driven either by the strong
desire to succeed or to meet needs within the society. Secondly, there is no
empirical evidence yet to suggest that being rich or having a rich background
guarantees success in entrepreneurial activities. Moreover, many entrepreneurs
in Nigeria succeeded through determination and hard work, although this two factors
seems to be fueled by the desire not to be poor.

No doubt
financial capital is important for starting any business, but the desire to go
into business and the attractiveness of the business opportunity that exist is
more important hence, aspiring entrepreneurs must focus on their psychological
needs rather than their financial needs. Entrepreneurs need to have the right
mindset, ask the right questions, develop a business plan, and implement a strict business strategy in order to
start and succeed in business.

When
a good opportunity is identified, it paves the way for financial resources. With
the right perception, attitudes, and beliefs an entrepreneur is set to launch
out.

Sustaining a winning
strategy in business is good, however, a time comes when dropping such strategy
becomes a necessity even when it is still profitable to the business and the
reason is simple – every stage of business growth requires a new strategy, and
when a business gets to maturity, it’s an indication that a new strategy is
required to sustain the organization in business.

An entrepreneur can reinvent a business by employing
deliberate and conscious strategies that will help the organisation compete effectively, and the only way an organisation can maintain its
growth is by launching new growth business strategies when the core units are still strong.

Don’t
stay too long on a business strategy, you must learn to adjust in a dynamic
business world.